The Blizzard
by AllInMyStories
Summary: Tim goes on the road for a promotional Tool Time thing but a severe blizzard causes him to get into an accident. Jill sits at home and worries when the news reports an accident with the same car they own and when they say that there were no bodies found..
1. The Accident

Me: Hey!!!! This is a new Home Improvement fic of mine! It's not a song fic though! Hehe!! Most of my HI fics are with songs except Fighting and now here's another one. This takes place when all three boys are in High School but Randy hasn't gone to Costa Rica yet. This fic also probably won't be as humorous as it will be dramatic. As all of you know by know, I'm a drama person but I love the TV show Home Improvement so...it's bound to be somewhat dramatic. I'll try to add as much funniness as possible though. I hope you enjoy it!  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"And that's all the time we have today everybody! I'm Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor and we'll see you next time. Oh, and remember...Sticky Glue can cause very sticky situations!" Tim said and did their signature salute while trying to pry off the piece of wood glued to his forehead. It wouldn't have been the first time he had done it though so he knew exactly the maneuver to get it off.  
  
Their signature music sounded and the director called a 'cut'. Al followed Tim back stage.  
  
"Are you going to be ok doing this show by yourself for a few weeks?" He asked.  
  
"Uh...Al, I'm the star...the main person....I think I can handle it." Tim assured him as he was still trying to pull the wood off his forehead.  
  
Al looked at him doubtfully but then shrugged. He pulled a green plaid shirt out of the mobile closet that was always next to the set. He then replaced his other green plaid shirt that he already had on with the one he had pulled out. Tim looked at him awkwardly as he put his suit coat on its proper hanger.  
  
"Tim? Al?" A familiar voice called while walking around to see them.  
  
"Bud? Hey." Tim said. "How's it going?"  
  
"Good. Listen, I was just talking to Ben Shepherd. He's the producer of another tool show in Michigan. He just asked if you two would like to go on a promotional road trip promoting his show along with ours. I told him you would."  
  
Tim smiled and was already looking forward to the opportunity while Al frowned and got worried.  
  
"Great! When is it?"  
  
"This weekend."  
  
"Road trip in early January.....alright." Tim said. He still had the wood glued to his forehead because his maneuver of getting it off was at home. Bud ignored it.  
  
"Bud!...I'm not going to be here this weekend remember?" Al spoke up still in worry.  
  
"Oh..." Bud responded. "Where were you going again?"  
  
"To visit my brother Kal. And I'm taking mother with me to Maine. I can't just forget about mother."  
  
"How can anybody forget about mother. She is the size of Maine." Tim responded and chuckled to himself.  
  
Al gave him an evil look. "Bud.....I can't go." He said firmly.  
  
Bud looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Al backed down. "Fine, Taylor can go by himself."  
  
"Myself? On the road by myself?.....Alright....." He said with a grin. "Just give me a destination point and a time...I'll be there."  
  
"Right. I'll map out the directions for you Tim." Bud responded and walked away while shaking his head.  
  
Tim turned back to Al. "Ok, I'm off."  
  
"Tim."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I.....I didn't really appreciate that comment on mother." Al said slowly with a puppy face.  
  
"Al..come on. I was kidding."  
  
"Why must you always kid about mother?"  
  
"Because she's an easy target. She's a big target to.....hehe. Hey, it's better than joking on you isn't it."  
  
Al looked at him confused and Tim patted his shoulder before leaving the set.  
  
---------------  
  
Tim jumped out of his car and went straight to his the workbench were he keep a salient to remove the wood from his head. He had ignored the looks he got from strangers on the drive home. He quickly with a bit of pain was able to remove the wood and walk into the kitchen where he found his wife, Jill, cooking.  
  
"Hey sweetie." He said while closing the door behind him.  
  
Jill turned around and smiled at him. She had her shoulder length straight hair pulled into a ponytail with her bangs bouncing on her forehead. Her gorgeous make up from the day was still painted on her face. Tim moved a strand of hair with his finger and slowly kissed her neck.  
  
"Oooh." She trailed off and closed her eyes as he wrapped one of his muscular arms around her stomach. "Did you have a good day?" She asked with a smile as she opened her eyes again.  
  
"Mmm..hmm.." He said and stopped kissing her neck. Tim moved to hang up his jacket on the hook next to the kitchen. Jill moved around to the kitchen sink to pour the pasta she was cooking into a colander to drain all the water out. He followed her and looked at her body with his eyes before grabbing her around her waist again.  
  
Jill laughed at him and finished pouring the pasta. She set down the pot and turned around in his arms. "You must have had a really good day...." She stated and kissed him lightly. Tim nodded and moved into to kiss her more. She responded pleasantly by letting him kiss her and move his hands around on her back and shoulders. "So, what did happen today?" She asked and kissed his neck slowly.  
  
"Bud told me I was going on a promotional road trip this weekend." He responded and ran his fingers through her hair.  
  
Jill pulled away from him. "This weekend?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Tim!" She yelled and hit him on his chest.  
  
"Jill!" He yelled back and went to hit her but stopped himself.  
  
"This weekend the boys are going on that ski trip with their friends families....you and I were supposed to be here...just us..." She said with a frown. "Alone..in the house for two whole days.....Do you know what that means?"  
  
"Umm......extra time to work on the hotrod?" He asked.  
  
Jill sighed and walked back to the stove to mix the sauce into her cooked pasta. "Now I'm going to be here by myself....thanks so much."  
  
Tim looked at her like he was in trouble now. "Well, what did you want me to do Jill?"  
  
"You could have said no.....if you had remember our plans. I've been looking forward to the guys leaving for weeks just so I could spend some time with you alone......without our children."  
  
"What's the big deal? It's one weekend. There will be others."  
  
"Tim...when was the last time we spent some alone time where it was romantic?"  
  
He paused and gave her one of his guessing looks. "Friday?" He said, taking a long shot at the answer.  
  
"Over a month ago."  
  
"Yeah, a month ago Friday." He responded.  
  
"Tim!"  
  
"Jill!"  
  
"Why do you always find someway of making me just want to strangle you?!"  
  
Tim kept quiet and rubbed the red spot on his forehead. "I glued wood to my head today." He said with a sad face.  
  
Jill glared at him and slammed the lid on the pot the pasta was in. She then turned and headed for upstairs while Tim sighed with a small grunt and still rubbed the red spot on his forehead.  
  
---------------  
  
That night Tim and Jill didn't talk before they both fell asleep. The next morning they didn't say anything besides 'hello and goodbye' before he headed to work and she stayed at home until she had to go to her classes. The weekend was rolling around in about a day and Tim was beginning to pack. He admitted to himself that Bud had asked him on a bit of short notice but it was his work and he had to do it. He felt bad about leaving Jill and wished she would just understand and kiss him goodbye like any other wife would.  
  
She walked into their bedroom and found him still packing. He had already finished with his car items and now as on to his actual clothing.  
  
"How much are you taking?" She asked in response to the two full suitcases sitting on their bed.  
  
"Well, I have to be prepared. You never know what accident I might get into this time." He responded.  
  
"Like gluing wood to your forehead?"  
  
"Funny." He said responding to her smart-ass comment. They were on speaking terms but didn't talk about the argument and weren't very close to each other the past few days. She missed it but she didn't want to admit it to him. If he wouldn't express his feelings then she wouldn't express hers.  
  
"When are you going?"  
  
"Tomorrow morning. I'll probably leave before you get up." He said.  
  
Jill played with her button up shirt. "Oh."  
  
"Yeah." He responded and zipped his suitcase. "I better get these in the car." He said and left the room carrying them out with him.  
  
Jill sighed and looked around the bedroom. She glanced at the framed photo they had of her and Tim that was sitting on the dresser. They looked so happy in the photo and she realized how much she hated fighting with him. But she also hated apologizing first or at all for that matter.  
  
---------------  
  
Tim slowly got out of his bed around six am and got dressed. He glanced at his wife still sleeping and smiled at the sight. She slept peacefully even though he knew things weren't sitting right with her in the marriage department at the moment. Once he was done brushing his teeth and getting dressed he walked around their bed to her side. He quietly leaned over and kissed her forehead.  
  
"I love you." He whispered and slowly walked out of the room while glancing at her. Tim made his way downstairs and the emptiness of the house. He felt bad again for leaving her alone but shrugged it off.  
  
With coffee in his hand, he set off on the road.  
  
---------------  
  
Jill woke up to her alarm at seven thirty.  
  
"I love you to." She said and looked to her left. Tim's side of the bed was empty and she remembered that he had probably already left. She wondered if she had been just dreaming about him talking to her, saying that he loved her, or if he really had been. A sigh came from her again at the thought of being alone all weekend.  
  
'Look at the bright side, peace and quiet. I can get some homework done.' She thought to herself. 'But I want Tim here.'  
  
She shook her thoughts away as she got dressed herself. Within in minutes she was downstairs and fixing eggs and toast.  
  
"I'm cooking breakfast....for myself." She said out loud to herself. "So I can eat it.....by myself." She added while she popped the toast out of the toaster and buttered it.  
  
Nine o'clock rolled around and she left for school. As she ran to her car, she looked around at all the snow.  
  
"And there's more where that came from." She said to herself. It took her awhile to get all the snow off of her car and get it warmed up enough to run her to the local college. It took her longer to get there because of the snow too and it made her think about what her husband must have had to be driving through right then. When she arrived, she decided to shake off her worries and concentrate on her schoolwork.  
  
---------------  
  
Tim fiddled with the radio dials but couldn't get any signals. The snow outside was pounding down so hard on his moving vehicle that it was nearly impossible for him to see the road in front of him. There were hardly any other cars on the road, maybe one or two that he passed every now and then. Even in snow, the Tool Man still wanted more power in his car. More speed no matter what. Tim grunted at the thought. His grunts faded though when he saw a sign on the side of the road that said 'Bridge is out. Take detour' And had an arrow on it.  
  
"I don't see a bridge." Tim said to himself while squinting to see out his front window. He slowed his speed down some when he wasn't able to see anything. Everything was covered in white and it was beginning to pack up on the hood of his car against the window. It eventually packed up so much that his windshield wipers couldn't get up from underneath it. "Ok, don't panic." He said and slowed his speed down even more. Short breaths came to him as the conditions outside just seemed to get worse.  
  
Tim found himself slowing down and turning off all appliances in the vehicle (heat, radio, ect.) so he could hear outside for any awkward noises like construction.  
  
"Construction in this snow storm?" He asked himself out loud and shook his head at the possibility. "What kind of man would do that.......actually, a man like me.....uh oh oh." He said and grunted. His car jerked slightly but pulled it back onto the road. "Ok, focus." He said and tried to look in front of his car. Still nothing but white.  
  
He sighed again and felt a slight bump in the car as if he hit something. Tim looked out his side window and saw nothing but air. He looked down some and didn't see the side of the road. When he looked way down, all he saw was the top of a big frozen lake that shimmered like a newly polished floor. His eyes widen and he looked around in different directions and slammed on the brakes. He realized that he was on the bridge that was currently out. His car fishtailed in the middle of the bridge and he tried to get it back straight while releasing the brake some. The car took a jolt forward and he realized why the bridge was out. The snow slid forward off his hood as the car started to tip. Tim's eyes widen even more when he saw the same frozen lake top out his front window. The car was falling off the bridge and it was too late for him to get out. Flashes of his life passed before his eyes as the window in front of him fogged up from the frozen air it was falling through. When his dad died came to him, then when he met Jill and then his wedding. The birth of Brad, then Randy, then Mark. His first Tool Time episode all shot through his mind. The world seemed like it was going in slow motion and there was nothing he could do about it. The car hit hard against the frozen lake. Tim covered his head with his arms and felt a jolt of pain as he hit the steering wheel and front dashboard with his upper body. He could feel his rib crack at the impact and his legs jammed in between the driver floor and the seat. His breathed was knocked straight out of him and pain kept jolting through his body. The car slowly sunk into the ice cold water and Tim knew he had to get out but he just didn't know how he would.  
  
End Chapter 1  
  
Muahahahahaha!! You got a cliffhanger! Nani nani boo boo!! Yeah, uh anyway...Sorry about all the cliffies in most of my stories. I just love doing that to you. I guess you'll just have to wait and see Tim's fate in the next chapter. Sorry about all the short chapters in recent stories also. I know Chaos At Rittenhouse chapters were crazy long, but oh well. Maybe that's why these aren't, I just got tired of writing long as ever chapters. Shrugs. Bye bye!!! 


	2. The News

Me: I'm back with Chapter 2. Brace yourself for some major drama!! I know this is a comedy show but oh well...what kind of person besides Tim and Randy joke when something really serious is going on.....Anyway, thanks for the reviews so far. I appreciate them all. So let's make this quick and I'll just say that I don't own anything and just let you guys get on with the chapter. See ya.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
With severe pain in his chest and legs, Tim unbuckled his seatbelt. Water was filling in the car quickly and he could tell that he only had a few minutes before he wouldn't be able to breathe. The handle on the door was slightly jammed but with much force he was able to pry it loose and open the door slightly. He held it open just enough to get his upper body out. When he went to slide the rest of his body out something pulled him back in. He looked down and saw that in the water, his right foot was caught in between the floorboard and the seat. His breaths got quicker as the water filled to his neck. Without using his right arm, Tim bent over and tried to pull out his foot. His arm hurt so much from the impact of hitting the steering wheel. The water quickly filled to his mouth and he held up his head as far as he could to keep from going under. He tugged hard on his leg to get his foot out but it wasn't moving. The water was so cold that he could barely move his fingers around to grab his pant leg. It kept filling centimeter by centimeter until it was up to his eyes and he had no way of breathing. With bravery he put his full head under the water and pulled. The car jolted forward further into the icy lake and the seat released its grasp on his foot. He shoved his side into the door to open it more so he could get out. Tim swam towards the top of the lake with his good arm. The car kept sinking more slowly now and the force of it pulled him back down. He kept swimming not knowing how long he would be able to hold his breath. After a few seconds the cold air from the late afternoon hit his face and he took in a deep grasping breath. He looked around quickly into his surroundings and saw the frozen water around him. Grumbling noises were in the background and he looked behind him to see his car smashed and still sinking.  
  
He started to whimper. "My car......" He said and climbed onto a patch of ice slowly. "Oh no." He grunted and looked around. When the accident had accured he was somewhere around Midland, Michigan. "I've got to get home." He said ignoring the cold and pain in his body. "I'm only about five hundred and forty miles from Detroit." He calculated. His mind raced at what he would do. Tim took one last glance at his half-sunken vehicle and sighed before slowly making his way out of the lake. Exhaustion filled his body once he hit the ground. He was so glad he was out of the water but the air just seemed to be colder than ever. He rubbed his arm with his good hand and laid back in the snow covered grass. His eyes closed as he felt like he was breathing in ice. The fog from his breath could be seen as the snow from above kept on falling on his limp body.  
  
---------------  
  
Jill walked in the front door with her college friend trailing behind her.  
  
"Burr.....it's freezing out there." Jill said.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Jill shut the door behind them and they took off their backpacks and coats. Then Jill walked to the kitchen. Her friend semi-followed.  
  
"Thanks for coming over to study Connie." She said. "You want something to drink? I can make some hot tea...."  
  
"That'd be great." Connie responded. "It's no problem. We both need to ace this exam so...why not."  
  
The two women paused as Jill filled up the teapot with water and placed it on the stove.  
  
"Hey Jill? Do you mind if I catch the news. I want to see who won the game yesterday."  
  
"Yeah sure. Help yourself."  
  
Connie walked to the TV and flipped it on and to the news. For awhile it was nothing but weather.  
  
"Geez, the snow is just going to get worse out there." Connie commented as Jill poured the now hot water into two mugs. "The scores should be up in just a minute."  
  
"Ok." Jill said and placed two tea bags in the mugs.  
  
Connie turned up the TV and Jill looked towards it.  
  
"The blizzards out there are just getting more and more heavy people. If it is possible, stay in your homes and stay as warm as you can." The news reporter said. "There was a severe accident around Midland yesterday as a cause of this snow storm."  
  
Jill's gut turned and she walked closer to the TV and stared at it. The reporter was standing on a closed road in the snow. The camera shot to a video of a sky view of a big glassy lake with a red Nomad in the middle of it.  
  
"Oh my god." She said and continued to stare at the TV. It was showing the police doing an airlift of the vehicle out of the water. The front was crushed in and it was covered in ice and snow.  
  
"What?" Connie asked when she saw the look on Jill's face.  
  
"That's our car....." Jill said slowly in shock. Her mouth was dropped open and she was breathing rapidly. "That's the one Tim was driving....." She trailed off as the news went back to the reporter, now standing beside the smashed Nomad.  
  
"The police found the accident early this morning. There seems to be no bodies found yet and no evidence of the owner of the vehicle. The only thing as evidence is this tool belt." The reporter said and pointed to the item lying in a clear bag. "Engraved inside the tool belt are the words 'Tool Time'. The vehicle is a red Nomad but the license plate was too smashed to read. So if you have any information concerning this matter please call your local police department."  
  
Jill cupped her mouth in shock. She stopped breathing as if something had knocked the wind out of her. Connie knew what was going through her mind and she quickly jumped of the couch to comfort her friend. "No." Jill said and shook her head. "No!" The shock couldn't escape her body as she continued to stare at the TV showing the smashed car and tool belt once more. "Tim." She whispered and grabbed Connie's arm for support. Her legs gave out beneath her and she caught herself on the table behind the couch. She looked away from the television and slid to the floor. "No." She repeated and tears started forming in her eyes.  
  
"Jill." Connie said in concern and sat with her on the floor. "I...." She started but stopped.  
  
Jill's body shook with tears and she didn't bother to wipe them away. Her knees were folded underneath her and she wrapped her arms around them. Her face was buried in them and her hair was draping down the sides. Connie rubbed her hand on her back and couldn't help but shed tears herself.  
  
"This can't be happening....." Jill said. Connie offered her a box of tissues from the table. She took one and stared straight in front of her through the water still running down her cheeks. "I can't believe this. NO!!!" She said and scrunched up her face before looking at Connie. "NO!!!!"  
  
They were silent for a little while before Jill got herself off the floor and sat at the dinning room table.  
  
"I'm so sorry." Connie said in words of comfort.  
  
"The last thing we talked about......it was a fight! The last thing I did with my husband was fight!!!!" Jill said and her tears still flowed. "I didn't even get to kiss him goodbye."  
  
Connie looked at her friend with much sympathy. "I...I don't know what to say to you Jill."  
  
"It's ok."  
  
"No, it's not........You just got terrible news and I'm sitting here like an idiot."  
  
Jill didn't respond. She placed her face in her hands and continued to shake with tears. Connie pulled a chair next to hers and placed her arm around Jill. The phone rang.  
  
"Do you want me to answer that?"  
  
Jill nodded.  
  
Connie walked to the phone and picked it up. "Hello?'  
  
"Hi, is Jill there?"  
  
Connie hesitated and looked towards Jill. "May I ask who's calling?"  
  
"It's Heidi."  
  
Connie put the phone down. "Woman named Heidi......"  
  
Jill lifted her head from her hands and walked to the phone. She wiped away her tears. "Hello?"  
  
"Jill.....I saw the news. Please...tell me Tim didn't go....tell me he's still at home."  
  
"I wish I could." She said and started to cry again.  
  
"Oh god."  
  
Jill could hear the woman on the other side of the phone sobbing as well. "But wait....the guy said that there were no bodies found...that doesn't mean that there were no survivors right?"  
  
Her eyes widen with hope. "I don't know anything." She said and grabbed another tissue. "I do know that I should call the police department...maybe they can tell me more."  
  
"Do you want me to come over there....because I can..."  
  
"No, no. You shouldn't drive in this snow. That's how this all started."  
  
"Ok. Jill......I'm so sorry." Heidi said.  
  
"Me to. Will you call Al?"  
  
"Yes, I will."  
  
"I'll talk to you later."  
  
"Ok." She said slowly. "Bye."  
  
Jill hung up the phone and dabbed her eyes with the tissue. Her body was still in shock and she could feel her heart breaking.  
  
"It hurts." She said while looking around the house. Connie looked at her concerned. "It hurts so bad." Jill said again and wiped away her tears. "I just.....I can't believe this."  
  
Jill looked passed Connie and out the glass back doors. She could see Wilson in his yard pacing. Without a word she grabbed her coat and walked out back.  
  
"Wilson?"  
  
"Jill. I thought you'd meet me out here eventually." He said with a sad tone.  
  
"You saw the news?"  
  
"I'm afraid so neighborette. Are you ok?" He asked, now peering from behind the fence with half his face covered.  
  
"No. I feel numb.....helpless........empty."  
  
"Mmmm hmmm."  
  
"And it's as if my heart is actually breaking into a thousand little pieces." She continued slowly and started to cry again. "It hurts."  
  
"I know it does. It's hurting me to."  
  
Jill looked at him through her tears and then around at the snow. "Why did this happen Wilson?...........Stupid snow." She said with anger and kicked some of it across the yard. She looked up and could feel the white flakes hit her face. "The boys....what about the boys? Are they going to be able to get through this Wilson? Am I going to be able to get through this?"  
  
"Grieving is a natural thing Jill. Life and death isn't something that can be controlled by human hands."  
  
She didn't respond.  
  
"The only thing we can do.....is pray."  
  
Jill looked at him now and took in his words. "Pray." She repeated and turned back towards her house. "Umm....yeah. I'm going to go inside, it's freezing. Feel free to come by if you want..."  
  
"Ok." Wilson said and headed back inside his house as well. Their conversations usually lasted longer than that but it was considerably cold outside and Jill was weak.  
  
Connie saw her come in as she was hanging up the phone.  
  
"I called the police department."  
  
"And?"  
  
She shook her head. "Nothing....that wasn't on the news."  
  
Jill sighed and sat down on her couch. Connie brought the box of tissues to her and Jill took a few. Tears were still pouring down her face and she couldn't make them stop.  
  
"I have to call the boys...I think I have the number of the lodge they are staying at." She noted and stood up. She looked through the drawer below the phone and found the piece of paper that had the numbers on them. Her breaths got more rapid and she couldn't get herself to stop crying. "How am I supposed to tell them?!" She yelled and looked up at the ceiling as if she was talking to God. "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO TELL MY CHILDREN THAT THEY MIGHT NOT SEE THEY'RE FATHER AGAIN??!!! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO TELL THEM THAT OUR CAR WAS FOUND IN A FROZEN LAKE AND THAT THEY DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS?!! THAT THEY DON'T KNOW IF HE'S ALIVE OR NOT?!!!" She screamed and sunk to the floor again. Connie stared at her with shock and sympathy.  
  
Jill sat on the kitchen floor, her body limp and her eyes glaring in front of her. Connie was too unsure whether or not to approach her so she stayed standing near the dinning room table.  
  
"I don't know what to do....." Jill said after awhile. "I don't know what to do without him....Connie, he's the only man I've ever loved....and the thought of him not being here any longer....is....killing me. I feel like I can't breath and as if I......as if this can't really be happening...."  
  
Connie approached her now that she was somewhat calmer. The shock of the news hadn't left the room. It hadn't left Jill. She sat down next to her friend again and wrapped an arm around her. Wilson knocked on the back door and she motioned for him to come in. He sat down next to Jill as well and grabbed her hand in his. She leaned forward and hugged the man she had known for so long. Wilson patted his hands on her back and held her weak body as she sobbed.  
  
---------------  
  
Brad, Randy, and Mark made their way home no matter how many objections Jill made. They needed to be home with their mother then, not skiing at some lodge. The shock of the whole situation had been too much for all three of them so one of their friends parents drove them home very cautiously. When they arrived that night, Jill was sitting at the dinning room table with Wilson. Connie had left a few hours earlier on Jill's orders. Wilson protested and stayed though. The three teenagers were greeted with long loving hugs and tears from their mother. They all sat down together while Wilson made hot chocolate for them.  
  
"We still don't know anything." Jill said. "The police said they would call if there were any updates on.....a body...being found or something."  
  
"This must be how dad felt....." Brad said. "When grandpa died......he was a kid, like us."  
  
"We don't know if he's dead yet Brad." Randy said defensively raising his tone.  
  
"Randy...." Jill said calmly. "I know this hurts, believe me...."  
  
"Yeah, you're the one who should be hurting more than anybody Mom." Brad said.  
  
Jill looked around at her three boys. Brad looked towards Randy and Randy looked at his hands. Mark stared at Jill with tears in his eyes. She stared back and shook her head towards him. Wilson broke the silence.  
  
"Hot chocolate is ready." He said and poured the liquid into five different mugs. Jill stood up and served them to her children. Wilson joined them at the table. They all stared at their drinks and then everybody took a sip except Jill. She didn't want any.....She didn't want anything....except Tim. All of a sudden the lights went out.  
  
"What happened?" Randy said.  
  
"I think that was the power." Brad answered and tried to flip on a light switch. Nothing happened. "Yeah, that was the power."  
  
"Oh no." Jill said and carefully walked to the kitchen. She felt for a drawer and opened it as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She pulled out a box of matches and lit one. Then she quickly grabbed a candle that was sitting near the couch and lit it with the match. She did this for three or four more candles and placed them throughout the room. Randy got up and started putting wood in the fireplace. Jill then tossed him the box of matches and he lit the fire.  
  
"It's going to get cold." He stated.  
  
"We should all just sleep down here." Jill noted. "Wilson....I'd feel better if you'd stay with us."  
  
"Then I will." He noted and semi-smiled at her.  
  
"We have another problem." Brad said from the kitchen. They all squinted to see him and then realized he was holding the phone in his hand. "Phone lines dead."  
  
"Oh God." Jill said and sighed. "I can't believe this. How are we going to find out if there are any updates with your father?" She asked, not expecting an answer back from anybody. She started pacing but stopped herself. "It'll be ok. We'll be ok." She said and Randy put his hand in hers. She squeezed it and pulled him in for a hug.  
  
---------------  
  
Tim walked along side the road as fast as he could. The snow was hitting him hard. After he had gotten out of the lake he passed out and woke up at what he thought was early in the morning. With all the strength he had, he got up and headed back in the direction he came from...on foot. He left his sunken Nomad, his suitcases, and his tool belt behind. All he had was the frozen clothes on his body and his drenched wallet in his back pocket. He saw a sign on the side of the road where he was walking that said 'Flint: 12 miles.' Tim didn't know how much more he could take. All the walking and the freezing cold wind and snow pounding against his face weakened him. His left arm was completely numb from hitting the dashboard and he had been limping the whole time because of his foot being jammed. His walking got slower and slower as he walked farther and farther.  
  
A few minutes went by and Tim heard a car pull up behind him. It was a truck and it was stopping for him. The passenger window rolled down when the vehicle was next to him.  
  
"Do you need a ride?" The person driving asked.  
  
Tim hesitated but looked around. The snow was getting heavier and if he kept walking, he would either freeze or collapse. He nodded and got into the truck slowly.  
  
"You look pretty beat up there sir..." The driver said.  
  
Tim looked over and saw an overweight man with a dark beard. He was wearing plaid.  
  
"Oh no." Tim grunted. "Not flannel."  
  
The driver looked at him weird but shrugged it off. "Where you headed?"  
  
"Detroit." Tim answered.  
  
"Well that's about three hundred and something miles from here. That's around five hours."  
  
"I need to get home. My home is in Detroit."  
  
"Well, I can take you as far as Flint. I'm sorry that's where I'm stopping."  
  
"That's good enough. Thank you." Tim said and looked at the man. "Would you mind if we turned up the heat a bit?"  
  
"Not at all." The man said and fiddled with the knobs.  
  
About fifteen minutes later they arrived at a local bar in Flint, Michigan. Tim turned to the man before getting out of the car.  
  
"Thank you sir."  
  
"Listen, I can tell you're freezing. How about I buy you a drink?"  
  
"I couldn't do that." Tim started. The man looked at him and Tim hesitated then shrugged. They walked into the bar and sat down.  
  
"I'll have a beer Joe." The man said to the bartender. "What do you want?" He asked Tim.  
  
"Umm...something warm..." Tim said and looked at the menu. "Hot tea is fine."  
  
The bartender nodded and went to get their drinks. Tim pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and opened it. The thing was practically frozen.  
  
"How long have you been walking out there?"  
  
"Hours." Tim answered. "I was in Midland."  
  
"Wow...you're really determined to get to home aren't you? What happened?"  
  
"Car accident. And yes, I need to get home." Tim said and looked in his wallet. He had cash but it was mostly all frozen from the water and then from the cold weather outside. "I'll pay you for the gas and the drink." He said. Tim was still so cold and shaken up by the accident.  
  
"No, you don't have to. You might just want to put yourself up in a hotel tonight. It's freezing out there and it's dark now." The man suggested.  
  
Tim took in the thought. "You're probably right. I think I have enough here for one night. Where is the local hotel?"  
  
"Just a few miles into town. I'll take you there." The man said.  
  
"Thank you." Tim said and sipped on his tea.  
  
After they were done, they hopped back into the mans car and he drove Tim to the local hotel. Then after making sure he was in and ok, the man left with many thanks. Tim walked into the hotel room and then to the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and gasped. His skin was pale and he looked weak. With exhaustion filling his body, he turned on the hot water and decided to get a shower. The water gave him goosebumps and it wasn't long because the feeling of water just brought back the accident in his mind. The pain his body was in about killed him but he ignored it and once out of the shower and covered up in a towel and comforter from the bed, he picked up the phone. His shaking fingers dialed his home number. As soon as the call went through, he got a dead line. With confusion, he dialed the number again but the same thing happened.  
  
"That's odd." He said and hung up the phone. He couldn't get Jill on the phone. He needed to talk to her. Tim lay down on the bed and wrapped himself completely in the sheets and comforter. Within seconds and without even turning out the lights, he fell asleep from exhaustion.  
  
End Chapter 2  
  
Me: Well....I guess you people are just going to have to find out if he makes it home in the next chapter......hehe....I hope you liked it. Review!!! 


	3. Coming Home

Me: Hola!! I appreciate all the reviews I'm getting, except the flamers but oh well.....those won't bring me down!! Sorry about changing the title of the story so much. I just couldn't make up my mind. I went from The Blizzard to When Tragedy Strikes to When He Didn't Come Home and then back to The Blizzard.....I just didn't know what fit best so I just changed it back to the original and left it. It's more of the story that counts not the title anyway. Anyway, I don't own anything because if I did I wouldn't be writing this....you know this people, come on! I'll see ya after mis amigos!  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Tim woke up what he thought was five minutes later. He looked at the hotel's alarm clock and saw that it was nearly noon. As he sat up quickly, his muscles ached with pain. He was sore and in the mirror he could see bruises all over himself. The skin on his body was paler than a newborn baby's. He quickly went to his clothing that he had laid over the heater the night before. His hands touched their warmth as he tested to see if they were good enough for him to wear. They were so he slid them on slowly. He could see that his left rib cage area was swollen and bruised. Also, his right ankle looked the same. After getting dressed in the very warm clothing, he limped his way to the telephone and dialed his home again. He needed to talk to Jill. Before the phone even rang it gave a dead signal and Tim gave a big sigh.  
  
"Guess I'm just going to have to surprise her." He said to himself and started collecting the few things he had. Within minutes he was downstairs and checking out of the hotel.  
  
The snow outside was thick and freezing. It was still falling from the dark, sunless sky. The day seemed like it was going to be a cold one so he zipped his coat even higher than it already was and started limping down the sidewalk path.  
  
----------  
  
Jill sat on the couch with her eyes wide open. Brad and Mark were lying on the floor by the fire asleep while Randy was in the chair across from her also asleep. Wilson was the only other one awake and he was sitting at the dinning room table. Jill maybe slept two hours at the most that night. She was so worried that he wouldn't come home or that they would find his body frozen under the lakes icy surface. Her mind played the scene out like she was planning it to happen. When she heard Brad mumble in his sleep, she snapped back to reality and shook her head some. Wilson coughed behind her and she turned to look at him.  
  
"Hey." She said quietly and got up. Jill approached him and took the seat across from him at the table.  
  
"How are you?" He asked politely.  
  
"Umm.....scared.....heartbroken......worried. All things I normally wouldn't want to feel." She paused. "I can't help but picture strangers telling me that he didn't make it. Telling me that they found his body and that he's dead. And it just scares me so much more Wilson."  
  
"Don't picture that then." He responded.  
  
Jill looked at him somewhat surprised. She was expecting more than just a single sentence that told her not to do something she couldn't help but do.  
  
"Think about the past Jill. Think about your lives together, both good times and bad."  
  
She thought. "Both good times and bad." She repeated his words. "We had a lot of good times and a lot of bad times. I remember in our first year of marriage...some of the fights we had....." She trailed off and made sure the boys were sleeping. "You know sometimes we would just pick a fight so we could make up and.....well you know."  
  
Wilson chuckled at her and continued just to look in her direction after quickly glancing at the rest her family.  
  
"Now we pick a fight just so the other one will sleep in the other room..." She continued and laughed at herself. He laughed with her. "Some of the fights we had..." She repeated and shook her head. "Some were so stupid and some were actually serious even though he joked about them. The fight we had the other day-I wish it never would have happened."  
  
"Understandable." He noted and let her continue.  
  
"The last real thing he said to me was..... 'I glued wood to my head today.'" She laughed. "You know how he does that....the whole making you feel sorry for him because of something stupid he did earlier. That's what he was doing then." She said and thought a moment. "And then...the last real thing I said to him was......" Her face scrunched up in tears. "'Why do you always find some way of making me just want to strangle you.'"  
  
Wilson looked at her with sympathy.  
  
"It was a stupid fight about this weekend. A stupid fight that should have never happened. I should have understood that he was doing this promotional thing for his job and that he didn't mean to hurt me by it."  
  
Wilson was silent and she wasn't quite used to it. He noticed that she felt that way and decided to speak up. "Do you remember the time we played that Halloween joke on Tim?"  
  
"Which one?"  
  
"The one with my girlfriend being a witch. Remember?"  
  
She laughed. "Yeah, I remember. He was so frightened."  
  
"Did you feel sorry for him at all when we did that?" Wilson asked curiously.  
  
Jill paused. "Mmmm..nope." She answered and laughed. "He had played so many jokes on me over the years and I just wanted to get him good at least once. Halloween was always one of his favorite times. That and Christmas."  
  
"Ahh...Christmas. Those stupid looking decorations he put on the roof." Wilson noted and shook his head.  
  
"He was so competitive."  
  
"He still is." Wilson said and it made her stare at him. She realized that she had been using his name and qualities in the past tense, which meant she assumed that he was no longer with them.  
  
"Yeah." She said quietly and looked at her hands. "I miss him." She said and scrunched up her face in tears again. "I just want him to walk through that front door and be here." She added and looked towards the door. Wilson looked with her and they stared at it for a little while before turning back to look at each other with realization that it might not happen.  
  
----------  
  
Tim walked by the road. The snow was still pounded down hard on his weak body but he kept walking. The woods beside him were dark and there were no cars on the road. There hadn't been for awhile. It looked like he was on some long highway road that connected one city to another. One of those long roads where cars traveled at seventy miles per hour and debris was occasionally flying from accidents. The word accident ran through his mind and he thought back to the lake and his car. His Nomad was completely destroyed by now and it took a lot out of him to leave it behind. After he woke up from that night he didn't even think about police or waiting for them. He knew he had to get home. Something inside of him told him that he needed to be with Jill as quickly as possible. Something said that he wasn't going to let his children go through the same kind of pain he went through when his father died. He wouldn't let that happen and he wouldn't let his family worry anymore than they had to.  
  
He had been walking for hours on end and didn't know when he'd reach the next town. The watch that was always wrapped around his left wrist had broken during the accident so he had no clue what time it was. The sky was getting darker so he figured it was late afternoon. As he thought about his family he heard rumbling noises quickly approaching behind him. He looked to see a car slowing down towards him. He stopped walking and stared into the fog-covered window of the car. After a few seconds the window rolled down and Tim saw the driver. It was a young woman at what seemed around age thirty. She had strawberry blonde hair and was wearing fancy clothing. Tim looked at her in silence.  
  
"Do you need a ride?" She asked him politely.  
  
"That would be nice." He responded.  
  
The woman unlocked the doors and Tim slowly got in. She noticed he was shivering and turned up the heat.  
  
"Where are you headed?"  
  
"Detroit." He answered and remembered the same thing that happened yesterday with his ride into Flint.  
  
"My parents live in Warren. I'm Kathy." She said.  
  
"Tim." He responded and slightly smiled.  
  
"What's there for you?"  
  
"My family."  
  
"Parents?"  
  
"Mother, brothers, wife, kids."  
  
"You're married?" She asked curiously.  
  
"Yeah." He answered. His head was pounding and his body ached. He was so glad to be in heat and to be sitting down but also getting somewhere.  
  
The woman kept silent for awhile as she drove. "I can drop you off in Warren but that's it or else I'll be later than I already planned."  
  
"That's fine. Thank you." Tim said. He didn't feel like making conversation that much but she did.  
  
"What happened to you?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Well, I mean you don't seem like the kind of guy who looks like that twenty four seven.....you seem like the type to drive a nice car with his nice family."  
  
"I normally am."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"Car accident." He said plainly. "I've been walking and hitch hiking since it happened."  
  
"When?"  
  
"Two days ago."  
  
"Wow...I wouldn't have the strength to do that." She said admiringly.  
  
"Where are we?"  
  
"Umm...a few hours away from Warren."  
  
Tim nodded and looked at the clock on the woman's radio. It said seven. He realized he had been walking for nearly seven hours that day. No wonder he was exhausted.  
  
"Warren is around twenty miles away from Detroit. I could probably make it by foot sometime around midnight to two in the morning." He said to himself.  
  
"Why not just call a cab?"  
  
"No money. I spent it all on the hotel. All I have is a quarter. And if I'm going to call anybody it's going to be my wife. I haven't been able to reach her since the accident."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I think the phone's dead or off the hook at our house." He answered. "Do you have a cell phone?"  
  
"Yes. Would you like to use it? I have free minutes." She asked and pulled it out of her purse.  
  
"Thank you." He said while nodding and took the phone. His cold fingers dialed their number but there was still a dead line. "No. Nothing." He noted and handed the phone back to her.  
  
"That's too bad. I bet she's worried sick."  
  
"Yeah." Tim looked straight in front of the car. "I bet she is." He stated and continued to stare at the snow falling in the light of the headlights.  
  
----------  
  
Brad, Randy, and Mark sat around the living room looking at magazines but not really reading any of them. The power had been out for an entire day now and the only thing it did was make them concentrate on the situation at hand more and more. Jill was doing the same as she was searching the fridge and cabinets for something to eat. The food in the fridge was getting warmer and some of it was going bad already. She sighed at the thought of having to clean all of it up once the power came back on. She hadn't been able to receive or send any calls since the night before and she couldn't even turn on the news to see if there was any progress. Her eyes widened as she thought of something she should have before.  
  
"The radio." She said out loud and everybody turned to look at her.  
  
"What?"  
  
"We can listen to the radio." She said again and headed into the garage. There was no light so she came back out and took a candle with her when she went back in. She found a flashlight on Tim's workbench and flipped it on as she set the candle down. The light shone on different objects: his tools, the storage things on the shelf above, and the boxes in the corner. She moved the light to the boxes and walked towards them. She opened the first one and started going through it. Eventually Wilson joined her to make sure everything was all right.  
  
She slid one of the boxes to him. "See if you can find a portable radio in there." She said and continued searching through her own box. She saw old picture frames and things that belonged to her husband.  
  
Wilson found household items in his box and at the bottom he came across a radio. He tapped on Jill's shoulder and she saw it. She stared at him and the radio for a few seconds and then took it from him and headed back into the kitchen.  
  
It was an old radio that they had bought for emergencies. She flipped it on but nothing happened.  
  
"Batteries." She guessed and opened the back. Wilson found some batteries that matched and handed them to her. She put them in. By this time, they had attracted the attention of Brad, Randy, and Mark. The guys jumped up from the couch and Jill took the radio to the dinning room table. They all sat down as she flipped it on again. There was static. Jill played with the dial to get a different station but there was still nothing but static.  
  
She sighed as Randy took the thing from her hands and played with it. After a few minutes he finally got something that was similar to talking. It sounded fuzzy so he reached for the antenna and pulled it up. He also walked to the back door and held the radio in its direction.  
  
In a few seconds they could hear a man talking clearly.  
  
"Don't miss this all new event coming to the stages of Michigan. Meatballs: The Musical is said to be the most smashing hit of the year. Tickets on sale January 31st."  
  
Randy looked at the radio like it was an idiot. "The only thing we know about the outside world right now is that Meatballs: The Musical is coming to town. Ohhh...yeppie!!" He said sarcastically.  
  
Jill sighed and rested her head on her arms over the wooden table. "Just turn it off. There's no use." She mumbled.  
  
Randy went to turn it off but stopped when he heard a screeching sound. They all looked at it strangely. It sounded like sliding tires and screeching brakes. A man's voice came on.  
  
"Have you ever been in an auto accident? Do you have the right insurance for your family? Come to-"  
  
"TURN IT OFF!!!" Jill yelled and Randy quickly did what she said. Her breath had increased in amount and she was letting a single tear roll down her cheek untouched. She looked around at their frightened faces, grabbed the flashlight off the table and ran towards the upstairs.  
  
----------  
  
She slammed the door to her bedroom shut and locked it. The room was dark so she flipped on the flashlight and looked around. The bed was unmade from the morning he left and one of the dresser drawers were open from him packing. Her tears started to spill heavier when she came across the framed photo of her and Tim that was sitting on the dresser drawers. They were hugging tightly and smiling. She could feel the love in the picture and it made her heart fall. She sunk onto the bed and stared at the picture in the light shining out of the flashlight.  
  
"I'll do anything." She said and tried to swallow past the lump in her throat. "What do you want from me?!" She asked and moved her glance from the photo to the ceiling as if she was talking to God again. "HUH?!" She yelled. "ANYTHING YOU WANT! JUST NAME ANYTHING YOU WANT AND I'LL GIVE IT TO YOU. ANYTHING!" She continued and lowered her voice some when she spoke again. "I just want to see him again. Just to see his face again and touch his skin. To hug him and to kiss him. Please....." She begged. "That man is the love of my life and I don't know what I'm going to do if he doesn't come home. I don't know if I can live without him." Her tears spilt onto her lap and she now hung her head down with the brown curly locks falling around her soaked face. After a pause, she lay down on her side of the bed and then grabbed his pillow. Jill squeezed it tightly as she turned over and then turned off the flashlight so the room was nothing but pure darkness.  
  
----------  
  
Around five hours later, Jill woke from her nap and walked down the stairs. She had just been sleeping but still felt exhausted. The only light in the house was the fire and when she walked into the living room, her three boys were asleep on the floor. Wilson was sitting on the couch and staring out the back door. She approached him and then sat down next to him.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"For what?" He asked curiously.  
  
"Being here with us." She responded and semi-smiled at him.  
  
"I'm here for you just as much as you're here for me."  
  
She nodded. "I'm sorry about my outburst earlier."  
  
"Don't be. It's perfectly natural. I remember a good professor of mine said once that the best way to live life is to do so naturally."  
  
"Meaning?"  
  
"You're outburst was a natural emotion that was held inside you from the start of this whole thing Jill. To not let it be expressed would be unnatural and it's not healthy to do so either. Grief and sadness are a part of life and we just have to face them when they come. Shedding tears and yelling about something is all a natural expression of that sadness and grief."  
  
"So what you're saying is that I shouldn't hold back my feelings when they're built up this much and that I had a right to yell and cry in front of my kids." Jill stated.  
  
Wilson nodded. "You're much easier at understanding my information than Tim is." He noted.  
  
She looked at Wilson and semi-smiled again. "You should get some rest. I haven't seen you sleep in over twenty four hours."  
  
He nodded. "I guess so." He agreed.  
  
Jill got off the couch and let him lay down in her place. She slowly stepped around her children and sat on one of the cushions next to the fireplace.  
  
----------  
  
Tim made his way down the road again. The nice woman he had been riding with dropped him off in Warren and after he gave his thanks he immediately headed for Detroit. It was dark now and the only thing guiding him were the streetlights. He had to get home even if it meant arriving in the middle of the night. The snow had lessened somewhat as he limped down a road. In the past he had driven to Warren for business and things so he knew which way to go even in the dark. When he had gotten out of the car it was around eleven and he knew he had been walking for at least two hours. Everytime he felt like giving up, images of Jill and his children flashed through his mind. He was determined to get to her, to them. It would just take him a bit longer on foot than it would by car. It surprised him how much a human could go through when they have the complete mind set of determination. Never in his whole life had he imagined that he would be walking in a blizzard and hitch hiking with no money on him and his body weaker than ever. Even against his better judgment he thought that nothing that bad could happen to him.  
  
Thirty minutes passed by and he arrived in his neighborhood. With his heart pounding he could squint and see his darkened house down the street from the moonlight. The streetlights were out and there were no lights from houses around him.  
  
"Power problem?" He guessed to himself and continued walking. He found his house and limped to the front door.  
  
Inside Jill stared into the fire and then turned her gaze to the blank front door. "Walk through the door Tim." She said out loud but in a whispered. "Please, come home." She gazed at the door for a few more seconds in total silence. When nothing happened she turned back to the fire and more tears rolled down her cheeks. She didn't remember ever crying this much in her life.  
  
Tim's breath increased and he went to open the door. The warmth from inside hit his body and he could see the light from the fire. Jill heard the noise and stood up quickly. She walked around their children to see who it was. She couldn't make out the face but the feeling in her stomach told her that it was him.  
  
"Tim?" She called.  
  
"Jill." He responded and limped farther into the foyer. She ran to where he was and saw that it was in fact him. He was there. He had walked through the door like she prayed he would.  
  
Jill's tears poured harder than ever as she looked at him and then reached out to touch him. When she felt that he was real, she threw herself into his arms and started kissing his face and neck.  
  
He grunted in pain. "Gentle." He said softly from the small space between their lips.  
  
"Oh, Tim you're freezing." She noted and looked into his eyes. He was paler than she had ever seen him and he was cut up and bruised. "Oh my gosh." She said at the sight but still held onto him. "You're weak." She noted and loosened her grip some. "Sweetie." She said plainly.  
  
Tim reached up and touched her face. She jumped at the feel of his frozen fingers but let them stay on her skin. Her heart rose as he slowly wiped away her tears and stared into her eyes.  
  
"It was you." He whispered.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You were the only thing I could think about. Your face was the only one I could see and your voice was the only one I could hear."  
  
Jill sobbed and stared back at him through more of her tears. "I thought you were dead. I prayed that you weren't but something just made me lean towards....being a widow. I didn't know what I would do without you Tim."  
  
"I love you so much." He added after taking in her words.  
  
"I love you to." She responded and slowly leaned towards his face. Their lips met and didn't let go. He wrapped his arms around her despite all the pain. A feeling shot through both of their bodies. The kind of feeling that lifts you off your feet and just surrounds your heart with joy. A feeling of endless love that is something everybody always dreams of.  
  
"I was so scared." He admitted.  
  
"Me to." She said and went back to staring into his eyes. "God, I love you." She added and kissed his face in various spots quickly. "I'm so sorry about what happened before you left. It was a stupid fight and it shouldn't have happened."  
  
He smiled and motioned for her to help him into the living room. "It's ok and I'm sorry to. I should have remembered about our plans."  
  
"Let's just not fight anymore." She paused and looked down at his feet. "You're limping." She noted.  
  
"Yeah, that's what happens when you get your foot stuck between the floor of the car and seat as...the car....is sinking." He responded.  
  
"Oh my god. What happened?" She asked.  
  
"The bridge was out....I couldn't see the road."  
  
"Oh Tim." She said and lead him closer to the fire. He looked down at his three sons and smiled. She helped him sit down at the dinning room table and pulled up a chair next to him. "We need to get you to the hospital."  
  
"Eventually, right now....I just want to be with you." He said and took her hands in his.  
  
They sat next to each other for a few minutes before all the lights in the house flickered on suddenly. Jill's eyes widened in surprise and the brightness woke everybody else in the room. Brad, Randy, and Mark sat up and looked around through squinted eyes. They all three noticed Tim and their mouths opened slightly in relief.  
  
"Dad." Mark said and got up. Brad and Randy copied his move. Tim gave each of them a hug and then gave Wilson a look as she slowly rose himself from the couch.  
  
Jill and Tim continued to sit right next to each other with their sides touching as Brad, Randy, and Mark pulled up chairs and the two cushions from the fireplace. Wilson also pulled up a chair and placed it next to Jill. Tim looked around at his family and smiled. The love emerging from the room was enough to warm his entire body and fill his heart with joy. Jill wiped away her tears and ran her fingers through Tim's hair as he told the story of his survival. She loved him so much it made her speechless and he felt the same way. From then on, Jill would always give him a hug and a kiss goodbye before he went anywhere. Always leave loved ones with loving words because you never know when it will be the last time you'll see them.  
  
End Chapter 3  
  
Me: So?? How'd you like the story? This was the last chapter and I enjoyed writing this nice drama. Review and tell me what you thought! 


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